


Friday Night Fish

by Aestheticrambles



Category: Percy Jackson and the Olympians - Rick Riordan
Genre: AU, Cute, Doctor Will, Feels, Fish, Fluff, M/M, Meet-Cute, Oneshot, Oneshot AU, Romance, Solangelo AU, aren't we all will aren't we all, helpless nico, how do I tag on here anyway, prompt, romance au, solangelo fluff, struggling med student will
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-08-20
Updated: 2016-08-20
Packaged: 2018-08-09 21:19:32
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings, No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,246
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/7817617
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Aestheticrambles/pseuds/Aestheticrambles
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Prompt: “My friend is out of town and I’m supposed to be taking care of his pet fish but it died and you work at the pet store help me find one that looks the same so he won’t notice."</p>
            </blockquote>





	Friday Night Fish

**Author's Note:**

> This is my first time ever posting on ao3 help what am I doing. APART from that, my friend and I @vivilevone on tumblr have had a prompt-off this past week and this one was my absolute favourite out of all of the ones I wrote. We've gotten a bunch of writing done which is good, and this is also going to be the first Solangelo story I've posted like, anywhere. I hope you guys enjoy it, thanks for reading!

It was 8 P.M. on a Friday night, and Will would rather be anywhere other than working the night shift at a pet store. He sat in the fish department, surrounded by glowing fluorescent filled tanks and the distinct smell of wet fish flakes. It was disgusting.

Yes, Will would much rather be at a bar, maybe with some cute tinder date. Or back at some boy’s house on a Grindr hookup. At least at home, watching Netflix. Out with his friends, playing guitar. Yes, there are a lot of things Will would rather be doing. Though in truth, he would probably just be studying for med school. That was the only reason he took this stupid night job.

But, luckily Will was soon to be saved from this hell, otherwise known as Petco at 8 PM, when a guy walked into his section. And oh boy, was he cute.  
He was shorter than Will, maybe 5’10. Kind of skinny. Shaggy black, hair, olive skin, and dark eyes. He was probably around Will’s age, if he had to hazard a guess probably a year or two younger. Will got up, suddenly interested in being helpful.

“Hello sir, may I help you?” Will asked. He was even cuter up close. Apart from the fact he had a look of panic and terror in his eyes.

“Please. My friend is out of town and I’m supposed to be taking care of his fish but it died, you work here right? Help me find one that looks the same so he won’t notice, please.” the guy looked so lost, like a little puppy. Will had to restrain a smile.

“Of course, happy to help! Do you have a picture with you?” Will asked.

“Yes, uh just a sec.” Will smiled politely as the guy scrolled through his phone. He held up his phone to him. It was a guy’s Instagram. And boy was that guy attractive too, but not really Will’s type. He looked like a god, and probably had a complex to match.

But apart from the guy. . . . “A betta. Well, lucky for you, we have a large selection of betta fish to choose from, we just got a new shipment in, so we have plenty to choose from. He’s a very pretty color. Do you have a more close-up picture?” Will asked.

The guy backed out of the pic and scrolled through to another one. “A delta. A lighter shade of blue with a little bit of light blue around the edges. Let’s see what we have.” 

Will gave his most winning smile to the guy, who smiled gratefully.

Will started checking cups, and eventually the guy chipped in as well. “So, uh is your friend your boyfriend?” Will asked.

The guy looked shocked and then laughed. “Oh no. Percy isn’t gay. He’s been in a relationship with the same girl since like freshman year of high school, they’re stupidly in love. But sometimes I wish he was. He’s just a friend, but he asked me to watch his fish and . . . of course I killed it. I don’t do well with animals.”

Will had to resist pumping his fist. So this cute guy was gay! Well, Will’s gaydar was rarely wrong. “So no boyfriend?” Will asked him.

“No, no boyfriend,” Nico said, “what about you? Cute guy like you, I’m sure you have people of all genders breaking down your door.” Truer words had never been spoken. The amount of cougars that tried to hit on him at work. Eugh.

“I do, but like you, no boyfriend. Just haven’t met the right guy yet. Or any guy that actually wants a relationship in particular,” Will said, trying to keep the slight bitterness   
out of his voice. There had been quite a few guys Will would have loved to long-time date, but they usually had just left him behind.

With a small sigh, Will picked up another cup, carefully inspecting the betta inside. Not the right color. He placed it back in.

In all honesty, the dreary lights and atmosphere were getting to Will, they put him in a daze. This whole place put him in a daze. A pet store may seem exciting at first but when you spend all your time there it just gets dull. The beige tiles, the always freezing air, the industrial warehouse tall ceilings that were everywhere retail. The smell of animal, and not in a good way. Having to clean up after animals that weren’t potty trained….

Will realized he had zoned out. “Sorry, did you say something?” Will asked suddenly shaking himself out of it.

“Yeah, I asked your name,” the guy said with a cute little smile that melted Will’s heart. ‘Goddamn is he attractive,’ Will thought.

“Will, Will Solace. What’s yours?” Will asked.

“Nico Di Angelo,” Nico replied with an even more gorgeous smile.

“Italian?” Will asked. Nico nodded. “I speak fluent Italian, actually,” Will said as an offhand comment.

“Really? What a coincidence. My mom’s side of the family would love you then. They rattle off in Italian at about 90 miles per minute, you can’t get a word in edgewise. And because of their thick southern accents,” Nico said, “I can barely understand them anyway, I’m not exactly that fluent,” Nico admitted sheepishly.

“Oh, that’s nothing to be ashamed of. My dad’s side of the family is Greek and I don’t understand a thing when they’re talking. Never learned it,” Will said with a shrug.

“Now, Greek I can speak. My dad’s family is Greek as well, I get along great with them.”* Nico said.*

Will gave a small laugh. “Maybe we can tutor each other. How do you swear in Greek?”

“Ah, jumping straight to the good stuff, huh? I’m sure you need that to talk to your relatives,” Nico said.

“Certainly not my aunts and uncles. My cousins . . . probably. They tend to just prattle on in Greek, even if they know somebody else in the room can’t speak it. I would like to know when they’re swearing me out after all,” Will said with a small smile. It was true, though. Conversations with his cousins tended to get louder, and louder, and louder until you couldn’t get a word in edgewise. His cousins could speak English, but most of the time they would switch back to Greek mid-conversation.

Nico laughed. “I know a few. Not that many though, the girl who taught me was Greek-Orthodox. Doesn’t swear whatsoever, very religious.”

Will pulled out another cup and lo and behold, he had found a fish that looked like the picture. “Is this one close enough? Do you have that pic from before?” Will asked, studying the fish in the light.

Nico unlocked his phone and held it up next to the fish. Indeed, they looked identical.

Nico breathed a sigh of relief and took the fish from Will. “Thanks, so much. Do you want, like a tip or something? I have some extra money.”

“Nah. How about your phone number instead?” Will asked.

Nico pressed his lips together in an attempt to not smile, but the corners of his mouth curled up anyway. He handed his phone to Will, who typed his number in and quickly sent himself a text.

“You better actually put that number to good use, or I’ll be disappointed,” Nico said.

“Oh, you bet on it,” Will said with a grin.

Nico laughed. “Thanks again Will. Talk to you soon.”

**Author's Note:**

> * I would like to note that Will and Nico are not siblings, just they both have Greek dad’s, Apollo and Hades, but they are not actually related as that could be misconstrued on accident.
> 
> Thanks for reading guys! Hit me up on tumblr @iwriteshakespeareanninsults and @vivilevone because she inspired this thanks friend.


End file.
